The dam is located about 6 miles (9.7 km) west of Redding, and impounds Whiskeytown Lake on the southern flank of the Trinity Mountains.

Construction started in August 1960 with clearing operations around the dam site, and excavations for the spillway and outlet tunnels began in October.

The latter furnishes water to the 180 megawatt (MW) Spring Creek Powerplant, which generates about 274 million kilowatt hours (KWh) annually.

[5] In addition, there is a 3.5 MW Power Plant at the base of Whiskeytown dam built in 1986 by the city of Redding.

The lake and dam are named after the Gold Rush camp of Whiskeytown, which was submerged in 1963 with the filling of the new reservoir.